Weinitz: Mother's Milk and Trickery (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns in and around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Okay so the Hungarian language doesn't use a W. Instead, I went for a legend about a place that has a German name, as well as a Slovakian and a Hungarian one. The German name is Weinitz; the current Slovakian name is Bojnice; the older Hungarian name is Bajmóc. It is a town of about 5000 inhabitants in a region that used to be a part of larger Hungary. It is most famous for its castle.

One of the castle legends has to do with the (in)famous bandit Jánošík. In the castle courtyard there is a mostly dry well, from the depths of which several tunnels lead to underground chambers. Legend says that the famous bandit and his 12 companions hid in those tunnels, and secreted away their loot there as well. However, they could not hide forever; eventually they were captured by the castle guards. The 12 companions were hanged, and Jánošík was sentenced to die of starvation in the castle dungeons.

The only person allowed to visit the dying bandit was his daughter and her infant son. She visited regularly, but never managed to sneak any food in; she was searched thoroughly every time she entered. And yet, as months passed, Jánošík was somehow still alive. He held on so long that people began to talk about a miracle. The lord of the castle eventually took is as a sign, freed Jánošík, and hired him as part of his retinue. Jánošík served him with loyalty till the end of his days.

No one ever figured out that his daughter had kept him alive by feeding him breastmilk every day.

(Source here and here.)

Vöröskolostor: The Flying Monk (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns in and around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Vöröskolostor (Červený Kláštor) is part of Alsóhelnic, a municipality of about 200 people in Northern Slovakia. The name literally means "Red Monastery", referring to the red hue of the former monastery's walls and roof. The monastery is first mentioned in the 14th century, and it belonged to the Carthusians.

The legend for this one deals with a real historical person from the 18th century, a monk named Jaisge Ferenc Ignác, more commonly known by his taken name, Frater Cyprian. He lived in the monastery and spent his time studying all kinds of sciences and arts (such as alchemy, medicine, botany, carpentry, painting, etc.). His herbary, containing almost 300 specimens, still exists today. But his greatest goal in life was to unlock the secret of flight. He wanted to create wings for himself and fly among the mountains.

Some legends say he succeeded.

The story goes that one day Frater Cyprian was alone in his rooms, working on designing wings for himself, when suddenly an angel appeared to him (other sources say the angel politely knocked on the door first). The angel showed a mirror to the astonished monk, and in the mirror Cyprian saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. She was a shepherdess from the valley, standing by the Green Lake. Cyprian's heart jumped. Love washed over him, and that love accomplished what science couldn't: wings sprouted from his ankles, elbows, and shoulders, and he immediately flew out the window. Soon, he landed by the lake, and the girl waited from him with a bright smile.

The angel waved a hand, and the wings disappeared; the monk's clothes changed into those of a shepherd. From that day on, Cyprian lived happily with his beloved by the lake.

Ungvár: Striking from Hiding (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns in and around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Ungvár is a city in the Ukraine with about 110,000 inhabitants, 8000 of whom are Hungarian. In historical times, this area used to be a part of Hungary. Techincally, the legend itself is tied to the village of Komoró nearby, on the Hungarian side of the border, and Ungvár is only mentioned in passing, but I needed a place for U, so here we go.

First, you need to familiarize yourselves with the Hungarian term guta. It is an old name for an illness-demon, one that can strike people suddenly and cause a stroke, apoplexy, or a heat stroke. Today, we still say "megüti a guta" (the guta will strike them) when someone is about to have a great shock or sudden anger.

Later on, legends began to develop to explain the forgotten origin of the term.

Legend claims that there used to be a famous robber in the area of Ungvár, by the name of Guta Jakab. He was a master of the slingshot, and he could strike a target from a great distance with precision. He used to hide in the bushes and hedges outside a village and attack unsuspecting travelers - striking them like a sudden act of God. The legend claims this is where the common term "lapos guta" (flat guta) or "lapul mint guta" (lying low like the guta) came from: from the bandit lying low in the bushes, throwing flat stones with a slingshot.

Sources claim he was eventually captured, and executed in 1393 in Ungvár for his crimes (they hanged him by his ribs)

(I don't know about you, but I find it fascinating when legends develop to explain the origins of other, older, forgotten legends)

(Sources here and here)

Image from here

Telegd: Password for Hidden Treasure (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns in and around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Telegd, or Mezőtelegd is a municipality in Bihar county, Romania, with about 3500 inhabitants. In historic times, this area used to be a part of Hungary.

Here is a short yet fun story from this town:

There was once an old woman in Mezőtelegd who was extremely wealthy, but also extremely stingy. She had one child, a son, but she never gave a penny to him either. When she grew old and frail, her son and his wife took care of her day and night. And yet, the old woman did not want them to inherit any of her wealth.

To hide the gold she had, she sneaked out of the house one night into the garden. She buried the gold deep underground, covered it up, then bumped her buttocks on the ground nine times, saying:

"May the earth hide my treasure, may no one be able to retrieve it, until I bump my buttocks on it nine times again!"

It just so happened that her daughter-in-law secretly saw and heard all of this.

Soon after the old woman died. She refused to tell her son where the gold was buried. The man was distressed. Now his mother was dead, and she had taken her wealth with her.

"Too bad we will never be able to uncover that gold!" his wife sighed. She told him what she had witnessed. Her husband's face lit up.

"Nine times, you said?" 

With that, he picked his mother out of the coffin, went to the garden, and bumped her buttocks nine times on the ground. Lo and behold, the gold came to the surface.

(I feel like there should be a moral here about secure passwords...)

(Collected in 1984 from Fazekas Sándorné Keresztes Rozália. Source: this book)

Sokorópátka: How to Eat a Pig (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

This story comes from the actual oral tradition: growing up, I heard many tales from my grandfather that all featured a semi-mythical character named Sokorópátkai Szabó István. Only later on did I find out that he was a real historical person.

Sokorópátkai Szabó István was a politician at the beginning of the 20th century. He represented Sokorópátka is the parlament, and was a minister responsible for agrarian and smallholder issues. Sokorópátka is a municipality in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, northwestern Hungary, with about 1100 inhabitants.

My grandfather's tales about Sokorópátkai Szabó István, inherited through local folklore, were a source of endless merriment for my family. He usually came across in them as a bumbling, provincial, self-important man who made all kinds of funny breaches of etiquette. In the story we loved the most about him, however, he ends up being a trickster.

Here it goes:

Sokorópátkai Szabó István considered himself a very important man. He used to take the train to Budapest to attend parlament meetings. He had himself driven by carriage to the train station in Győr, and on the way home the carriage waited for him in the same place. Now, SSzI was a large man, almost 200 kilograms, and he always came home hungry. On the way back home he used to stop in the village of Ménfő, at the tavern of Józsa Mihály (my grandmother's uncle) to have dinner. His usual dinner consisted of five liters of pejsli (pork lung).

It happened one winter, on the night before the day of St. Barbara (Borbála) that the Budapest train was late. The coach driver was half frozen by the time SSzI arrived. The lord was extremely hungry, and gave the order to drive to the tavern despite the late hour. Soon, he was banging on the door, demanding dinner.

The tavern keeper, half asleep, opened up. He told the lord that there was no food prepared this late at night, and he should move on. However, SSzI did not take no for an answer. He demanded food loudly, until Józsa Mihály admitted that there was a roast pig in the oven, kept warm for St. Borbála's feast the next day - given that Borbála was his daughter's name, so they were going to celebrate her name day.

SSzI demanded the pig to be put on the table. The tavern keeper did not dare say no. However, he was furious. So he set the table, put a plate, a fork and a knife in front of the guest - and took another fork and knife for himself. Between them, there was the pig.

The tavern keeper gave a menacing look:

"My lord. Wherever you start on the pig, I shall start on you."

Sokorópátkai Szabó István looked at the pig. He was famished. He looked at Józsa Mihály. The man was not joking. He looked at the pig again. Where should he cut it? He did not want to suffer the same fate. He considered his options, salivating, struggling. Finally, he had an idea.

He put the knife down. He put the fork down. He turned the pig around. He stuck his finger into the pig's butt, scooped out a generous dollop of filling, and licked his finger clean.

"Alright, Mr. Józsa. You can start on me now!"

(According to my grandfather, Uncle Mihály was delighted to tell this story to people. Apparently, it made up for the loss of a pig.)

(Collected from my grandfather, Zalka Ottó, in 2019. May he rest in peace.)

Rónaszék: Playing Cards with Kobolds (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Rónaszék is a village of about 700 people in northern Romania, Máramaros county. In historical times this region used to be a part of Hungary. People have been mining salt in Rónaszék since the Bronze Age. The mines were finally shut down in the 1930s. Miners have always had a particularly rich and fascinating folklore which researchers have been collecting for decades.

Here is one of my favorite stories:

A carpenter was summoned to one of the mines because some planks had to be replaced. He descended into the mines with his young son. As they took a light into one of the abandoned corridors, they saw a man in a fur coat. The carpenter warned the stranger that the walkway was unstable, but he just waved, motioning at the boy to be sent away. The carpenter sent the boy to watch the other miners cutting salt. The boy was so fascinated by the adventure that he only remembered to return to his dad at the end of the day.

When he returned, he found his father playing cards with the stranger. He told them the mine was about to close, so his father went back to the surface with him... but the stranger disappeared in the opposite direction. At home, the carpenter revealed that he had won a lot of money on cards. The stranger had been a mine spirit who invited him to play. The carpenter said he only had one coin in his pockets, but the spirit insisted on playing anyway... and, game after game, he let the carpenter win.

(Mining spirits can feature into legends as benevolent, mischievous, or downright dangerous creatures. In this case, the carpenter got lucky.)

(The story was told as a memory by the carpenter's son later in his life. Source here)

Image from here

The Queen's Buttocks (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

There is no Q in the Hungarian alphabet, therefore there was no town name I could find. But I did find a legend that features a queen. So here we go.

THIS POST CONTAINS AN ADULT JOKE

This story has actually been collected from multiple villages in and around Hungary, including Fúlókércs, Sajórecske, and Ada.

Here it is:

One day, Queen Maria Theresa (Habsburg empress and queen of Hungary 1745-1765) was walking in her palace gardens when a soldier, who did not recognise the lady, passed by behind her and decided to slap her buttocks hard. As the queen turned around, the soldier was horrified to discover he had assaulted Maria Theresa herself. Fearing for his life, he blurted out:

"Your majesty, if your heart is as hard as your buttocks, I am a dead man!"

Amused, the queen looked him over and replied:

"Well, if your **** is as firm as your hand, I might keep you."

(Story referenced in the Catalog of Hungarian Historical Legends)

Note: There are several folk legends about Maria Theresa and her appetite in men. A lot of these were told to make fun of a powerful woman. But there are also many folk legends about Maria Theresa being a just and wise queen who took care of people, and appreciated a clever joke.

(Not that slapping a woman's butt has ever been okay)